👋🌿WELCOMING SPRING🐦🎶

WELCOMING SPRING

In the traditional calendar spring has arrived.
During 'Risshun' (立春) the 'east wind melts the ice' (東風解凍 Feb 4th-8th), 'bush warblers begin singing in the mountains' (黄鶯睍睆 9-13th), and mysteriously 'fish emerge from the ice' (魚上氷 14-18th).

#snow #spring #Kyoto #Tojiin

But for the east wind to melt the ice, there first needs to be some brutally chilly weather...
....and sure enough snow arrived on cue️️🥶

The city has very few snowy days, but in recent years snow seems to settle thickest with the first wave of blooming ume trees.
#snow #京都

️FOUR FRIENDS OF THE SNOW

Daffodils, camellias, wintersweet and Japanese apricots are known as 'setchū-no-shiyū' (雪中四友), the 'Four Friends of the Snow'.

keeping company
with the plum tree-
the gate's last snow
梅の木の連に残るや門の雪
-Kobayashi Issa, 1822.
Trans. David G. Lanoue.

A fine snow falls about Myōshin-ji's Lecture Hall.

#Myoshinji #妙心寺 #snow #snowday #snowfall #zen #Kyoto

It's lucky that ume don't mind the snow because Kyōto has been enjoying more than a few flurries of late.

Kameya Shigehisa's 'ume ichirin' (梅一輪) depicts a delicate ume blossom and vivid fruit. The sweet's name alludes to a famous haiku by Hattori Ransetsu (服部嵐雪)...
#京都

one plum blossom
brings us just one more
step to the warmth

梅一輪
一輪ほどの
暖かさ

-Hattori Ransetsu (服部嵐雪 1654-1707).
Trans. Gabi Greve.

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #plumblossoms #umeblossoms #梅 #和菓子 #生菓子 #spring #haiku

The Randen (嵐電) tram trundles through snowfall on the way to Kitano-Hakubaichō from Ryōanji station (closest to our Garden Teahouse).

#嵐電 #tram #snow #Kyoto #京福電気鉄道

Offering colour at winter's end, it was believed that daffodils, camellias, wintersweet and Japanese apricots were at their most fragrant when it snowed.

Collectively known as the '4 Friends of the Snow', the 'setchū-no-shiyū' (雪中四友) were a popular subject for Chinese painters.

A winter wonderland within the walls of Tōji-in.

#Tojiin #等持院 #Kyoto #京都 #snow #snowfall #winterwonderland

Today's afternoon tea has a decidedly Welsh feel to it (naturally making me yearn for Welsh Cakes and Bara Brith🥲).

Kameya Shigehisa's (亀屋重久) 'suisen' (水仙 'daffodil') would make a perfect St David's Day (聖デイヴィッドの日 - March 1st) accompaniment.
#Wales #Kyoto #和菓子

A winter wonderland within the walls of Tōji-in.

#Tojiin #等持院 #Kyoto #京都 #snow #snowfall #winterwonderland

Today's afternoon tea has a decidedly Welsh feel to it (naturally making me yearn for Welsh Cakes and Bara Brith🥲).

Kameya Shigehisa's (亀屋重久) 'suisen' (水仙 'daffodil') would make a perfect St David's Day (聖デイヴィッドの日 - March 1st) accompaniment.
#Wales #Kyoto #和菓子

one plum blossom
brings us just one more
step to the warmth

梅一輪
一輪ほどの
暖かさ

-Hattori Ransetsu (服部嵐雪 1654-1707).
Trans. Gabi Greve.

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #plumblossoms #umeblossoms #梅 #和菓子 #生菓子 #spring #haiku

But for the east wind to melt the ice, there first needs to be some brutally chilly weather...
....and sure enough snow arrived on cue️️🥶

The city has very few snowy days, but in recent years snow seems to settle thickest with the first wave of blooming ume trees.
#snow #京都